SAN MARCOS -- The San Marcos High boys tennis team, like most
teams at the school except for perhaps football and baseball, will
have no home for the next two years as the campus undergoes a
complete renovation.

"We'll be the San Marcos Vagabonds,'' joked Bruce Storrs, the
Knights' longtime girls and boys coach.

So with only four home matches remaining on the regular-season
schedule, the Knights are trying to savor every last moment on
their campus, starting with Tuesday's 12-6 victory over
Escondido.

The win allowed San Marcos (6-3, 1-1) to escape last place in
the Avocado East League while the Cougars (2-4, 0-2) remained
there.

"I haven't thought about it yet,'' San Marcos junior Ty Kaufman
said of the team's impending loss of its home courts. "I'm trying
to put it off as long as possible. Worry about it when it gets
here.''

That day is getting much closer. The last home match is April 28
against San Pasqual.

"Every once in a while, I'll think about it,'' San Marcos junior
Paul Bunas said. "I just don't want to think about it so much it
hurts my game.''

Kaufman and Bunas combined to win all three of their doubles
matches at No. 2 against the Cougars. Junior Bryant Vo and
sophomore Varoun Misra swept their three sets at No. 1 doubles to
lead the Knights.

The match was tied 3-3 after the first rotation, but San Marcos
rallied for a 7-5 lead after the second rotation, and secured the
win on the 6-2 victory by Bunas and Kaufman over Escondido's No. 1
team of Taylor Cameron and Vincent Vega.

"We haven't had our complete team now in league play,'' Storrs
said. "It's been a variety of reasons, but I thought we had a few
kids play well today.''

Freshman Justin Chanthalangsy paced Escondido by sweeping his
three singles sets in what will be the Cougars' last visit to the
original San Marcos campus, which opened in 1961.

San Marcos junior Alex Feinberg led the way in singles, winning
two of his three sets.

"Not being able to have courts that we could use in the
offseason or to just come out from class for practice would be a
hassle,'' Bunas said. "It means we'll have to look for courts
elsewhere to work on things.

"This is not the way we all thought about spending senior year.
Maybe we should start planning a ceremony for that last day of
practice on these courts.''

As plans for the next two seasons are still being formulated,
players and coaches can only hope that the new campus, which is
scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2013, will have been worth
it.

The tennis courts are slated to be in a different location, at
the southwest corner of the campus. A baseball diamond for a
lower-level team is currently at that spot.

"No one is looking forward to this thing,'' Storrs said. "It's
difficult enough to field a team when you have a home base. This
will be a tough thing, starting in the fall with the girls (tennis)
season.''